Remains of a Hero
by Shiikun
Summary: Being controlled, being forced to commit robberies, and harass innocent bystanders made Inviso-bill look like a bad guy. Being hunted down by Ghost Hunters, civilians boo him out of a park when he was just watching the sunset, friends and family not realizing the obvious signs of a breakdown is what made Danny Phantom turn bad.
1. One miss? Big deal

His bed was surprisingly warm when Danny awoke. Ever since becoming part ghost, he felt his body slowly losing its warmth. So waking up to warmth was a tad uncomfortable. The halfa kicked off his blanket and sat up to flip his pillow over. Once he was satisfied with his new arrangement, he layed back down. Today was Saturday, which meant the one day he could try and sleep in. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand, he saw the glowing red numbers: 7:18am.

"Wow. Two extra hours, Saturday's are the best."

Danny knew that he technically had two more hours of sleep. Once his parents got up, they would tell him to do his chores. He was grounded from the whole "Circus Gothica" fiasco so in addition to his chores, he had to do whatever his parents would normally do. In Danny's head it wasn't that bad. Instead of his mother cooking and unintentionally contaminate foods with ectoplasm, Danny was the one to prepare meals. He wasn't the best cook but his meals were edible. Part of his punishment was to also clean the lab after his dad made a mess. Danny always took the opportunity to check out the new inventions and see whether or not they would be useful or deadly to him.

Turning his head to see his clock, he read the time: 7:32am.

It's been one day since Circus Gothica appeared in Amity..

It's been one day since Danny first glanced at the red Crystal.

It's been one day since Danny was forced to go against his moral code.

It only took one day for Danny to question his ideals.

‛I'm the good guy!' Has been a saying since he first realized he had the power to help others. His job was to defend the helpless from danger. The weak from the strong. The naive from themselves. Ghost hunters are appearing more in Amity Park but none of them have any real knowledge about ghosts. Believing that all of them were evil wasn't necessarily bad, the majority of the ghost that enter the human realm are trying to take over the world. What bothered Danny was that they believed that they were emotionless monsters that must be destroyed. If Maddie was correct about ghosts having "post-human consciousness," it didn't change the fact that to ghosts those thoughts and feels were real. Ghost can feel pain and pleasure. Ghost and Humans are practically the same except one didn't have a beating heart.

But ever since he was controlled by the crystal ball, Danny didn't feel the need to go out of his way to save the citizens from harm. He couldn't remember the actions he made while being commanded but he could remember the emotions that came with it.

Fear

Anger

Exasperation

Yet with all of the negative emotions he felt, the ones that stood out to him were positive.

Exhilarated

Valued

Respected

Freakshow wasn't kind to his so called minions, but when one did a job right he would praise them. The Ringmaster had made them feel important and needed. Danny knew he was being manipulated but it didn't change the strong emotions that overcame him.

7:52am

While staring at the clock, Danny felt disgusted with himself. How could he possibly think that it was okay to feel sense of understanding towards that manipulative bastard? Danny has always wanted respect from his peers. To not be considered a loser, to not be worthless. Respect was earned not a given. True respect did not come from power and fear.

Danny gasped when he felt the frigidness from the wisp of blue air that came out of his mouth. No matter how cold his body was, he never comfortable with the extra coldness from his ghost sense.

He could somewhat sense the ghost that was near. It was somewhat powerful, a bigger threat than the Box Ghost yet less of a threat compared to Skulker.

7:59am

Danny turned to lay on his stomach, face directed away from his clock.

He smiled into his sleep. He didn't dwell on the fact that he felt no guilt from ignoring his conscience.

* * *

Yeah...I have no idea where I'm going with this story.

I really don't like FF. net's formatting so I might post this to AO3.

If you have any ideas leave a review.

Reviews are appreciated.


	2. Admitting the issue is the real issue

Chapter Summary: You know you hit rock bottom, when you go to the person you hate the most.

/Warnings: Incest jokes and angst. So much angst./

* * *

"Hey. I have a question. What does it mean when a person stops caring about things? I don't mean ** _"Oh I love video games, but it's not as fun as before so I'm gonna stop playing games,"_** 'cause if someone stop caring about video games then _clearly_ _something_ is wrong with them and they won't be questioning stuff 'cause _clearly_ their _friends_ would know something is wrong with them 'cause as _good_ friends _they_ would see that something is— since **_WHEN_** do you have a guitar!?"

Was the first thing Danny said when he barged into Jazz's room. 'Thing' because he literally said all that in one breath. Wow, the power of not needing to breathe!

Looking around, it's funny to him how **little** Jazz's room has changed throughout the years. Same pink and purple color scheme, same lamp, same desk. The only difference that Danny's frantic observation noticed was the low amount of stuffed animals and—

"Since _WHEN_ do you have a guitar?" He breaks into a mumble, _"You're not the cool type? So why would you…?"_

"Danny," glancing at the body mirror next to her desk, Jazz sees her little brother…in his ghost form.

She sighed before going back to working on her Environmental Science homework, "You didn't come in here to question the contents of my room. You came here because you're having a small breakdown for some unknown reason. I thought we established that I _do_ believe in that ghost," Jazz leaned back into her chair with her arms crossed, stroking her chin in contemplation.

"Aha!"

Slamming her hands on the desk, Jazz exclaimed "Youngster Plasma!"

"It's Youngblood! Young B-L-O-O-D Blood! God, you are so lame! Seriously, how can you have a guitar?"

"Shut up!" Without looking back at her brother, she picked up the first thing she felt and threw it behind her. "Remembering names is not a priority!"

"Did you just." Danny picked up the object; sensing his was going to approach her, Jazz angled her body away from his walk path. Danny slammed the textbook on the desk next to Jazz. "Did you just _throw_ a 7 pound textbook at me?"

"7 pound?"

"By the sound of impact, combined with the force of your throw, it sounds kind of heavy. Its dimensions look approximately 9½ x 1½x 11 inches. It's also _your_ book so it's probably something that is college level so it must have more than 500 pages and from the looks of it has ummm 900 to 1200 pages?

"Seriously, how are you failing half of your classes?"

"And how do you know that? Actually don't answer that, it'll probably make me think even less of you, but if you _must_ know and knowing you _it'll kill you_ if you don't know _every **little** thing_ about _everybody_. Being the smart one is your thing. I would rather just sail by until I'm in college and no one can know anything about me without _my_ permission, since it's clear that you can snoop around and know everything about me— IT WOULD BE NICE if you actually looked at me while we talked."

"Last time you barged back in here, you ran in with just your briefs to tell me that you had a great idea, which by the way if you don't remember, was—"

"YOU PROMISED NOT TO BRING THAT UP! Anyway, I'm not in," Danny's eyes widen in alarm when he glanced down saw the black latex of his jumpsuit instead of white cotton of his favorite t-shirt.

"Uhhhhh… I'll be back"

* * *

As her little brother ran out her room; To change back and to have her not see the light that came with his transformation, Jazz thought. She evaluated what he was spouting out when he barged in.

First, he said he had a lack of interest in activities that he enjoys, which is a huge symptom of major depression but that's just one symptom so she couldn't just jump to that idea. Second, he specifically mentioned interests in video games, an activity that he does with his friends. The same ones that, as Jazz noticed, he kept emphasizing their lack of insight. Clearly the struggle that Danny was going through was internal and as always was trying to hide it away from others. 'Trying' being the key word, since no matter how much a person tries to hide, someone will find them. Thirdly…

 _"He came to me,"_ Jazz whispered. She thought **_'I'm his sister. Of course he came to me'_** right when Danny walked back in.

* * *

"Ha ha," Danny laughed sarcastically as jumped on Jazz's bed. "You were right; I was in my underwear. Now can we have an actual conversation like human beings?"

Jazz turned her head to look at her brother in defiance and Danny stared right back with smugness.

"Come," he patted the space next to him, "grant me your holy presence."

Jazz rolled her eyes. Placing her pen back in her stationery organizer and grabbing her laptop, she made her way over to Danny. She placed the laptop on her bed and went to the door.

Leaning against the frame, she asked, "Where are mom and dad?"

"I'm guessing the lab."

"You sure you want to do this?"

"Well duh. I came to you, didn't I?"

"Why now?" Jazz pushed herself of the frame and slammed the door shut behind her. "You never wanted my help before. Last time I checked, you thought I was snobbish, bossy, annoying" as she listed the traits, she strutted slowly towards Danny until she was leering over him. "The very definition of, what's your favorite word for me? Oh right, a _**fink**_." Jazz spat out.

Danny leaning back on his arms, keeping his ever growing smirk and responded, "Ooo, I can see why Dash has a crush on you. You're kind of sexy when you get serious. I kind of wished I had a tie on just so you can tug me closer to you."

"Ugh." Jazz grabbed Danny by his shoulders and threw him back across the bed. "You're repulsive." As he began to laugh at her reaction, Jazz grabbed her pillow and proceeded to try and suffocate him. "A fourteen year-old, shouldn't say sexy. It's extremely gross."

Even under the assault of the pillow, Danny continued to laugh. _See_ again the power of not needing to breathe! Jazz continued to put her weight on the pillow till Danny stopped laughing, stopped moving in general. When Jazz pulled the pillow away, her brother stared back at her with blank glassy eyes.

"Hi."

Jazz let out a long sigh and dropped the pillow on Danny's chest, along with herself.

 _"When did you get broad shoulders?" she whispered, "When did you get these scars? When did you stop coming to me when you needed help? When did you stop telling me everything?" When did you stop being my best friend?"_

Pushing herself of her brother and off the bed entirely, Jazz made her way back to her desk and sat on it. At the moment she didn't care that she was on top of her homework, Danny had his hands on the back of his head and had his stupid smug look back and she need to assert her dominance again. She stared back at her little brother, crossing her legs and arms: ultimate form of showing seriousness.

"If I'm going to help you, you do realize that you can't hide anything from me. You have to tell me everything from what you have been doing these last few months to what you did before coming home and then to my room."

"Again. Duh," Danny sat up and hugged the pillow from before. His face scrunched up in confusion, "Why do you have such soft pillows? Do mom and dad hand pick your crap and just pick of the first thing they see for me?"

"Focus Danny!"

"Sorry. Sorry."

"Again, you're going to have to tell me absolutely everything that your dumb brain has thought of."

"Fine I'll tell you about the fucked up fantasies of incest that I have about the two of us."

"Ew Danny," Jazz whined out, picking up her textbook she yelled, "Don't make me throw this again!"

"Sorry, you are just so easy to mess with."

"And you're stalling!"

"No duh! You, out of all people, should know how hard it is for me to talk about feelings and crap! So if I need a minute, give me a fucking minute!"

"Fine." Jazz gritted out as she made her way back to Danny. She sat next to him and opened the discarded laptop. "Do you think you're developing a mental illness? We can do an online test and if it says anything major, we can look up local therapists?

"I'm not seeing a shrink— No hospitals either."

"Look, as much knowledge I have about psychology, sociology, medical skills, and other stuff, I'm not a professional.

Danny mumbled _"No shit."_

"Is this what you want!?" Jazz shouted out. Laptop flying out of her lap and slamming on to the floor. "You want me to admit that no matter how much research, how much I follow you, NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WATCH YOU, I can't figure out what's wrong! I know you better than anyone, and _I mean **anyone**_. You don't have to speak and I know what you're saying! Yet now, when you're breaking, when you—"

"Your laptop fel—"

"Stop. Fucking. With. Me. You. Ass."

Danny felt his eyes narrow without his consent, but a forced smile appeared on his face.

The temperature in the room was decreasing rapidly. With Danny in the room, it already went down around 20°F, but now with Danny getting angry the temperature was dropping not that Jazz noticed. Jazz was actually heating up. She felt her face flush in anger.

 _'Of course he came to me, I'm his sister'_

 _What absolute **bullshit**._

She knows why Danny and her weren't _besties_.

Because of how immature he is, because of how infuriating he is. There were many times where she just wanted to strangle him, to push him down the stairs and laugh as he broke his arm and neck. Watching the life leave his eyes.

She remembered why they avoided each other. But that wasn't an option anymore.

Their _precious_ parents, being as _successful_ and as _important_ as they are for the town, didn't have time to watch their kids. But really, this surprising year of success didn't make much of a difference. Maddie and Jack being in the lab for countless hours wasn't new. At least before, Maddie would make _some_ time for Jazz, and Jack would make time for Danny.

Now Danny and Jazz were truly on their own.

Being so different from one another always came with childish problems.

Danny and Jazz were fire and ice, light and darkness, oil and water.

"Stop fucking with you?" The bed creaked from the weight leaving. Danny looking deranged with his now widen eyes and unnerving smile. "Heh, heh ha, Ha, HA HAHAHAA" he closed his eyes and hugged his torso in order to not fall from the force of his laughter. "I-heh- I always knewww- you were the fu-ha-nny one between the two of us!" His laughing continued as he made his way towards his sister. Jazz placed her feet firmly on the ground, watching her brother walk towards her, ready to fight back if he actually wanted to hurt her. Not that she thought that what he was going to do.

When he was a few steps away, he stopped. Danny reached out to her. Though he didn't see this, Jazz's eyes soften when he reached out, her body relaxed. He felt Jazz grab his tricep and moved him so his arm could wrap around her neck. He felt her thin arms wrap around his waist, holding him secure against her body. His unrelenting laughter sent tremors throughout their bodies.

 _"Aaaaah. Ghoooooost!"_

The moment Danny said that, it was the end for both of them. Jazz felt the bark of laughter come out the moment he said ghost.

Jazz felt Danny's legs give out from when his laughing combined with coughing. Now with her laughing along with him, she couldn't hold both of them up. Their tumble to the floor just fueled their hysteric laughter.

Jazz meant what she said. She can read Danny even if he didn't say anything and knew it was the same for him.

 _'I always knew you knew'_

 _'I wanted you to tell me'_

 _'You suck at lying'_

 _'And you're terrible at hiding things from me'_

 _'I need help'_

 _'I'll help'_

 _'You'll leave'_

 _'No'_

 _'You'll hate me'_

 _'Never'_

 _'I'm so scared'_

Sure, there are moments where they brought out the worst of one another, just like what happened now.

Danny and Jazz are opposites a spectrum. Which side she was didn't matter, because her brother balanced her while she balanced him.

 _'Then I'll be strong for you'_

Through Jazz's high pitch laugh, she could hear Danny's laughs turn into wails of pain. Jazz laughed louder, forcing her voice to be heard over his screams. Though she was still laughing, Jazz felt her heart clench and tears run down her cheeks.

 _'What am I turning into?'_

 _'Who cares. No matter what, you'll always be my most important. The only one I care about'_

 _'Really?'_

 _'Really'_

At least, she hoped that was the truth.

* * *

I recommend reading this story AO3 because I hate the formatting here and I actually respond to comments on Archive Of Our Own.

A beta would be nice. We could toss ideas to each other and check the grammar and word errors that I make that ARE so obvious but I don't notice until I re-read the chapter 2 months later. Then maybe I could post a chapter bi-weekly instead of bi-monthly.

Please leave a review.

Comments motivate me to write more and can give me ideas to continue the story. Small comments of "good job!" or "SO GOOD" actually make me feel so good. Constructive criticism also helps! Actually I always hope for those. Tell me if you notice an error or how you would have handled the situation, it could help with future chapters.

Note: I just finished writing this aND THIS CAME OUT SO DIFFERENT THAN WHAT I PLANNED. Maybe this is OOC but there's reason for that. I am all about sibling relationships! Jazz and Danny will always have each others backs. I really hope people don't read this and think that Danny and Jazz really hate each other. They hate what they bring out from each other, the ugly truths that they want to hide. Danny makes Jazz remember that she's a child not the adult she wants to believe she is, the adult that her parents have forced her into becoming. Jazz reminds Danny, that he is weak mentally. He knows that it's stupid to compare the two of them, but he can't help it.


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